Abbey Green Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Abbey Green Nursery School provides an exceptional level of care for its children and their families. Children thrive in this warm and nurturing nursery school.

They are happy and safe. There are exceptionally positive relationships between staff and children. Parents are overwhelmingly positive about the education that their children receive.

They too feel valued and part of the community that leaders have created.Leaders are highly ambitious for all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Children learn in an environment that is inclusive and designed to meet their individual needs in full.

Staff carefully consid...er children's precise next steps in their learning. They skilfully ensure that children achieve these.Strong routines are in place.

Children know, and follow, these well. They are respectful of the school's high expectations. Children learn and play together harmoniously.

They learn to share and take turns. Children take very good care of the equipment and toys that they use.The school promotes high levels of independence.

Children make their own choices about the activities they would like to engage in and the resources they would like to use. They become absorbed in their learning, whether this be by themselves, with other children, or with a guiding adult supporting them.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Leaders are responsible for Abbey Green Nursery School, as well as Midland Road Nursery School.

They work with staff, families and children across both sites. Staff at both schools have an exceptional understanding of the starting points that children have. They have designed a highly ambitious curriculum for all children across both nursery school communities.

Staff are knowledgeable about child development and how children's learning builds over time. They work skilfully with children within the learning environment to ensure that activities build on children's knowledge. Staff ensure that their teaching and the learning environment are carefully adapted to meet the needs of all children.

As a result, children at both schools are exceptionally well prepared for the next stage of their education.

Children's early communication and language skills are given the highest priority. Staff expertly listen to children as they talk and purposefully extend their vocabulary.

Staff know that this repetition of key words supports children to learn and remember more. Where adults identify misconceptions, such as a child confusing a lion with a tiger, they use this as a learning point to extend children's knowledge further.

The school develops a love of reading across all age ranges.

Children are immersed in stories, songs and rhymes. They share books with adults and use props and actions to retell stories. Even the youngest children independently choose to look at books, pointing excitedly to the pictures, eager for the adult to read to them.

Leaders have carefully chosen the core books that children will access as part of the curriculum. These include deliberate choices that reflect and celebrate the diverse nature of the setting and the wider community.

Children at Abbey Green develop the confidence to take, and manage, their own risks when playing.

They show high levels of resilience during their everyday play. For example, children challenge themselves to climb the bigger steps to the outdoor area or choose to ride the larger bicycles. All the time they are gently encouraged by the adults who work with them to manage risk and stay safe.

Woodland and wildlife days provide children with regular opportunities to develop their independence and important physical skills. Children put on overalls and wellington boots by themselves. They learn to attach ropes and materials to build shelters.

The school's approach to personal development is well considered. Children learn how to manage their own self-care and hygiene from a young age. This includes learning how to brush their teeth properly and how to make healthy food choices.

Carefully selected stories and wider experiences support children's learning in different areas of the curriculum. Leaders work with parents to inform them of these key messages. For example, they speak about online safety so that parents can continue to support their own children with the use of modern technologies at home safely.

Leaders deliberately plan a range of educational visits that carefully link to children's learning and development needs. Both schools take parents and children to local parks, then on train journeys to other nearby towns and cities, before travelling further afield to the seaside. Parents recognise that this gives them the confidence to be able to take their children to places and engage them in experiences outside of their immediate community.

Parental engagement is a key part of leaders' work at the school. The pastoral offer is strong and goes beyond supporting the children. The school ensures that the community has what it needs to deliver the best it can for the children.

Parents are effusive in their praise for leaders. This extends to parents and carers of pupils with SEND. The rapid, early identification of children with SEND ensures that a personalised learning curriculum is quickly in place for those children who need it.

This takes place within the fully inclusive learning environment. One parent summed it up by saying, 'This school changes lives.'

Leaders are passionate that all children and families receive the best care that they can provide.

Staff and governors share this relentless aspiration. The governing body has taken significant steps to ensure that it is well equipped to challenge and support leaders. Staff are proud to work at both Abbey Green and Midland Road Nursery Schools.

They feel valued and appreciated by leaders. Leaders are strategic in ensuring that all staff have the training they need to continue to be highly effective.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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